JPH07241757A - Glass substrate polishing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure the planeness of a glass plate so as to improve the adhesiveness (attaching property) to a bonded (attached) member, and heighten the quality by removing protruding parts stuck to the glass surface. CONSTITUTION:The roughness of a polishing tape 56 wound on polishing rollers 54C, 54B is set to be smaller than the roughness of a polishing tape 57 wound on a polishing roller 54A. In a glass substrate 18 positioned onto a moving table 16, unevenness with relatively large protrusion quantity caused by an external factor is removed first by the rough polishing tape 57, and then unevenness with relatively small protrusion quantity caused by an internal factor is preliminarily polished and then finish-polished. It is so constituted that the respective polishing rollers 54A, 54B, 54C can be independently moved in the vertical direction without coming in contact with an angle part with a burr 18.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a glass substrate polishing apparatus for polishing the surface of a glass substrate with a polishing member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A liquid crystal display (Liquor display) is used as a display device for displaying an image converted into an electric signal.
id Crystal Display (hereinafter referred to as “LCD”) has become popular. In the LCD, for example, a polarizing film is provided on the surface side of the liquid crystal, and light and dark are formed like a polarizing film depending on whether light transmitted through the liquid crystal passes through the polarizing film.

In this LCD, for example, a color filter in which minute color components of green, blue, and red are arranged in a mosaic pattern is arranged between the liquid crystal and the polarizing film, and the components of each color are included in the light passing through the polarizing film. There is a device that has a color image displayed.

The color filter and the polarizing film are sandwiched between a pair of transparent glass plates to be unitized as an LCD.

[0005]

However, on the surface of the transparent glass plate to which the color filter is attached, the transparent glass plate has a rough finish (internal factor), or a protrusion is formed due to adhesion of foreign matter during assembly. If it is formed (external factor), the flatness may be deteriorated and the sticking work may be hindered.

Similarly, it is conceivable that the adhesive strength of the transparent glass plates will be reduced due to the protrusions.

Further, foreign matter may adhere to the surface of the transparent glass plate after the assembling, and the adhesion of the foreign matter deteriorates the quality.

In consideration of the above facts, the present invention secures the flatness of the glass plate to improve the adhesiveness (adhesiveness) with the member to be adhered (adhered) and remove the protrusions adhered to the glass surface. By doing so, it is an object to obtain a glass substrate polishing apparatus capable of improving the quality.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a glass substrate polishing apparatus for polishing the surface of a glass substrate with a polishing member, the glass substrate being moved on a base and the glass substrate being positioned and mounted. A moving table to be placed, and a plurality of axes are arranged above the moving table, the axis of which is perpendicular to the moving direction of the moving table, and a plurality of them are arranged along the moving direction of the moving table, and roughness is provided on each circumferential surface. Polishing rollers to which at least two types of polishing members different from each other are attached, elevating means for elevating and lowering the plurality of polishing rollers with respect to the moving table, and a front end portion side of the moving table in the conveying direction of the glass substrate. When passing the corner, the corresponding polishing roller is lowered to bring the surface of the glass substrate and the polishing member close to each other to a predetermined distance or to bring them into contact with each other with a predetermined pressure to make a relative movement. Corners of the conveying direction trailing end side of the glass substrate has a raising and lowering control means for raising the corresponding polishing rollers immediately before passing causes.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the polishing member is applied to the surface of a thin long tape, and the long body is wound from a supply-side reel to a winding-side reel. And is wound around the polishing roller.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of polishing rollers are made to correspond to a glass substrate under the same conditions, the roughness of the polishing member is relative to the downstream side of the polishing roller in the glass substrate conveying direction. It is characterized in that the upstream side in the glass substrate transport direction is set to be equal or rough.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the three polishing rollers are provided, and the polishing roller on the most upstream side in the glass substrate transport direction is provided with an independent polishing member having the highest roughness. The polishing member once polished by the polishing roller on the most downstream side in the substrate transport direction is reused for polishing by the intermediate polishing roller.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, polishing members of the same kind as the number of the polishing rollers and different in roughness are applied, and the roughness is set to increase toward the upstream side in the glass substrate transport direction. It is characterized by being.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the glass substrate is positioned on the moving table and moved along the base. A plurality of polishing rollers are arranged above the moving table in the conveying direction, and polishing members are attached to the polishing rollers.

By the way, there are so-called burrs (protrusions) at the edges of the glass substrate (corners on the front end side and the rear end side in the carrying direction), and when the burrs come into contact with the polishing roller, they are polished. The member may be damaged or the glass substrate itself may be damaged.

Therefore, the elevating control means normally raises and retracts the polishing roller, and when the corner of the front end side of the glass substrate in the transport direction passes, the polishing roller descends in order from the most upstream polishing roller in the transport direction. I will let you. Further, immediately before the corner of the rear end side of the glass substrate in the carrying direction passes, the polishing roller is sequentially raised from the polishing roller on the most upstream side in the carrying direction. As a result, there is no contact between the polishing roller and the corners (burrs).

The lowered polishing roller approaches the glass substrate up to a predetermined gap or contacts the glass substrate at a predetermined pressure. In this state, the surface of the glass substrate is polished by the polishing member by moving the glass substrate and the polishing member relative to each other.

In this polishing, since polishing is performed by polishing members having different roughness, for example, both internal factors (flatness of the surface of the glass substrate) and external factors (adhesion of foreign matter during assembly, etc.) It is possible to deal with a polishing member having a roughness suitable for the above factors, and it is possible to eliminate problems caused by both factors.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the polishing member has a tape shape that can be wound around the polishing roller (hereinafter referred to as a polishing tape), and the polishing tape on the supply side in a state wound on a reel. The reel is set on the reel shaft, the outermost layer thereof is drawn out, wound on the polishing roller, and then wound on the reel set on the reel shaft on the retractor side. By forming the polishing member into a tape shape, new portions can be successively made to correspond to the glass substrate surface, and the labor of exchanging the polishing member can be saved. Further, when all the reels are used up, the reels can be removed and replaced, which improves maintenance workability.

If the tape width is prepared according to the width of the glass substrate to be polished, useless use can be avoided.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a plurality of polishing rollers are provided with a certain gap with respect to the glass substrate,
When mounting at a constant pressure, it is meaningless to install a polishing member having high roughness on the downstream side, and fine polishing on the upstream side is useless. Therefore, when a plurality of polishing rollers are made to correspond to the glass substrate under the same condition, the roughness of the polishing member on the upstream side in the glass substrate transport direction is set to be equal to or coarser than that on the downstream side in the glass substrate transport direction. To do. As a result, the glass substrate gradually corresponds to the polishing member having a low roughness, so that the polishing effect of each polishing member having a different roughness can be obtained.

According to the invention of claim 4, firstly,
Among the three polishing rollers, the polishing member attached (wound) to the most upstream polishing roller is different from the polishing members attached to the other two (rolled) and has a high roughness. .

Next, the polishing member (polishing tape) used on the most downstream side is attached (wound) again to the intermediate polishing roller. That is, on the most upstream side, a coarse polishing member is used to remove protrusions such as foreign matter, and at the intermediate polishing roller, after preliminarily polishing with the polishing member (polishing tape) used for polishing, the most downstream polishing is performed. Three-step polishing is performed, in which final polishing is performed with a roller. As a result, the finishing accuracy is improved and the polishing member (polishing tape) can be effectively used.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, different polishing members (polishing tapes) are attached (wrapped) to the respective polishing rollers, and the roughness is increased toward the upstream side in the glass conveying direction. According to this, the irregularities on the glass surface can be gradually polished, and the accuracy can be improved as the number of stages (the number of polishing rollers) increases.

[0025]

1 and 2, a glass substrate polishing apparatus 10 according to this embodiment is shown.

A rail 14 is laid along the longitudinal direction of the surface plate 12, and a moving table 16 is placed on the rail 14. This moving table 16
The glass substrate 18 or the like to be polished is positioned above.

As shown in FIG. 3, the glass substrate 18 polished by the polishing apparatus 10 of this embodiment is applied to the front and back surfaces of the active matrix color liquid crystal display device 20 (hereinafter, simply referred to as the liquid crystal display device 20). It is a thing.

In the liquid crystal display device 20, the pixel electrode 22, the insulating layer 24 and the alignment layer 2 are provided on the glass substrate 18 which is the back side.
The base portion 28 in which 6 is provided in layers, the RGB color filter 30, the insulating layer 3 on the glass substrate 18 on the front side.
2. The alignment layer 34 is provided in layers and is composed of a cover portion 36, and these are bonded by an adhesive 40 with a liquid crystal 38 sandwiched therebetween. The pair of glass substrates 18
Polarizing plates 42 are attached to the outer surfaces of the respective.

On the outer surface of the glass substrate 18 after the assembling, the adhesive (silicone) applied at the time of the assembling may be scattered and adhered to lose the flatness (external factor). In such a case, the assembled liquid crystal display device 20 is placed on the moving table 16 of this embodiment and polished.

Further, the surface of the glass substrate 18 before being assembled may become rough due to a problem in the accuracy of the working process (internal factor). In such a case, the single glass substrate 18 before assembly is placed on the moving table 16 and polished.

In the following, the polishing apparatus 10 will be described by taking the polishing of the glass substrate 18 alone as an example.

A plurality of small holes 44 are provided on the glass substrate mounting surface of the moving table 16 and communicate with an inner chamber (not shown). Further, a through hole 46 communicating with the chamber is also provided on the side surface of the moving table 16, and one end of a bellows-shaped hose 48 is attached. This hose 48
The other end is attached to suction means (not shown), and the small hole 44 on the moving table 16 serves as a suction port by driving the suction means. Therefore, the position of the glass substrate 18 placed and positioned on the moving table 16 is held by this suction force.

The moving table 16 is slidable along the rails 14 at a constant speed by a driving force of a driving means (not shown), and a pair of side plates are provided from the surface plate 12 so as to sandwich the sliding locus. 50 and 52 are erected.

Three polishing rollers 54A, 54B and 54C are bridged between the side plates 50 and 52, and along the conveying direction of the moving table 16 and near the upper part of the moving path of the moving table 16. It is arranged. The polishing rollers 54A, 54B, 54C, and the polishing tape 56 or the polishing tape 57, respectively, are wound around and contact the glass substrate 18 surface to polish the glass substrate 18 surface. In addition, the side plate 5 on the back side of FIG.
A drive control device 58 for controlling the drive of each part is attached to the back side of 0.

The polishing tape 56 wound around the polishing roller 54C located on the most downstream side in the transport direction of the moving table 16 and the polishing tape 56 wound around the polishing roller 54B located in the center are common. Has been done.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the polishing tape 56 pulled out from the outermost layer of the polishing tape roll wound in layers on the supply-side reel 60 has two winding rollers 62, 64 and a driving roller. It is wound around 66, sent out in a substantially S-shape, and wound around the polishing roller 54C on the most downstream side to be inverted by 180 °. The inverted polishing tape 56 is wound around the two winding rollers 68 and 70, and is turned by 90 ° in the same rotation direction to reach the central polishing roller 54B. The polishing tape 56 wound around the central polishing roller 54B is
180 degree inverted and three winding rollers 72, 74, 76
And one tension roller 78,
It is wound around the winding side reel 80. The tension roller 78 is movable in the direction perpendicular to the axis, and has a role of keeping the tension applied to the polishing tape 56 substantially constant. The tension roller 78 also has a function as a drive source.
The rotational force of the polishing tape 56 imparts a conveying force to the polishing tape 56. The conveying speed by the tension roller 78 is increased by about 0.3% as compared with the conveying speed by the driving roller 66.

Therefore, the polishing tape 56 has a transport path so that the polishing surface once polished by the polishing roller 54C on the most downstream side can be reused by the polishing roller 56B in the center.

On the other hand, the polishing roller 54A on the most upstream side has
A polishing tape 57 having a count (having a different roughness) different from that of the polishing tape 56 is wound. That is, the polishing tape 57 pulled out from the supply-side reel 82 is wound around the winding roller 84 and the drive roller 86, is guided in the direction of the polishing roller 54A, and is wound around this polishing roller 54A to be inverted by 180 °. Further, it is wound around three winding rollers 88, 90, 92 and one tension roller 94, and reaches the take-up reel 96.
The tension roller 94 also functions as a drive source, and the polishing tape 57 is conveyed from the supply reel 82 to the take-up reel 96 while maintaining a predetermined tension. The conveying speed by the tension roller 94 is increased by about 0.3% as compared with the conveying speed by the driving roller 86.

The polishing rollers 54C, 5 on the most downstream side and in the center
The roughness of the polishing tape 56 wound around 4B is set smaller than the roughness of the polishing tape 57 wound around the most upstream polishing roller 54A. Specifically, in the roughness display according to JIS standard, one polishing tape 57 is numbered 200 to 10000 and the other polishing tape 56 is numbered 10 to 10.
Nos. 00 to 8000 can be taken, and the degree of roughness is selected to be relatively smaller on the downstream side.

By applying the polishing tapes 56 and 57 as described above, the glass substrate 18 positioned on the moving table 16 is first subjected to the rough polishing tape 57 to remove the irregularities due to external factors having a relatively large protrusion amount. Then, after unevenness due to internal factors, which has a relatively small amount of protrusion, is preliminarily polished, final polishing is performed.

By the way, the glass substrate 18 has burrs 18A at its corners, and when the polishing tapes 56, 57 pass through the burrs 18A, the roughness of the polishing tapes 56, 57 is burred as described above. Since it is not rough enough to remove 18A, it rather causes damage to the polishing tapes 56 and 57. Further, the burr 18A and the polishing rollers 54A, 54
B and 54C may interfere with each other to damage the glass substrate 18.

Therefore, in this embodiment, each polishing roller 54 is
A, 54B, 54C can be independently moved up and down, that is, movable in the direction perpendicular to the axis, and the structure is such that they do not come into contact with the corner portion having the burr 18A.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, one end of the polishing rollers 54A, 54B, 54C (hereinafter, the polishing roller 54A will be representatively described because they all have the same structure) is extended and the collar member 100 is extended. It is rotatably supported by the moving block 102. In addition, this color member 100
The through hole 100A is a long hole, and the rotating shaft of the polishing roller 54A is movable in a direction slightly perpendicular to the axial direction, and is pressed against the lower end of the long hole by the urging force of the urging means (not shown).

The moving block 102 has circular holes 104 and 106 penetrating between the upper and lower end surfaces at both lateral ends thereof, and female threads are formed on the inner peripheral surface of one circular hole 106.

A fixed block 108 is arranged below the moving block 102, and two guide shafts 110, 1 are provided.
12 is projected upward. The inter-axis dimension of the two guide shafts 110 and 112 is the same as the circular hole 10
4 and 106 are the same as the inter-axis dimensions.

The guide shafts 110 and 112 are inserted into the circular holes 104 and 106, and one guide shaft 1
A male screw is formed on 12 and is screwed with the female screw. Therefore, the guide shaft 11 formed with the male screw
By rotating 2, the moving block 102 can move up and down along the guide shafts 110 and 112.

Moving block 102 and fixed block 108
A gear 114 is attached to the guide shaft 112 between and, and meshes with a gear 118 attached to the rotating shaft of the motor 116. Here, the moving block 102 can be moved up and down by rotating the motor 116 forward and backward. That is, the polishing roller 54A is moved up and down by the driving force of the motor 116, and is raised at the corner of the glass substrate 18 where the burr 18A is present, and is lowered otherwise.

A weight member 120 is attached to the tip of the rotary shaft of the polishing roller 54A penetrating the collar member 100 to balance the polishing roller 54A in a cantilever state.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to the process chart of FIG. The glass substrate 18 to be polished is positioned at a predetermined position on the moving table 16 and the movement is started.
At this time, the polishing rollers 54A, 54B, 54C are all in the raised position and are retracted from the position where they interfere with the glass substrate 18 (see FIG. 5A).

The moving table 16 on the surface plate 12 moves along the rails 14, and the first (upmost stream side) polishing roller 54 is moved.
When the corner of the glass substrate 18 passes directly under A, only the polishing roller 54A on the most upstream side descends, and the glass substrate 1
8 is placed at a predetermined interval or is brought into contact with a predetermined pressure (see FIG. 5B). In this state, by moving the polishing tape 57 from one reel to the other reel, the polishing roller 54A slides on the glass substrate 18 while rotating, and polishing is started. The polishing tape 57 on the most upstream side is independent and has a relatively large roughness, and so-called rough polishing is performed. By this rough polishing, large projections and the like are scraped off, and those that damage the polishing tape used in the subsequent process are removed.

Next, when the glass substrate 18 passes directly under the second polishing roller 54B, the polishing roller 5 on the most upstream side.
4A, the descent is started, and, for example, the glass substrate 18
And a predetermined pressure (see FIG. 5C).

The polishing tape 56 wound around the polishing roller 54B located at the second position is the most downstream polishing roller 54.
The polishing tape 56 once polished by C is reused. That is, the polishing tape 5 wound around the polishing roller 54C on the most downstream side, which will be described later, and subjected to the polishing treatment.
6 is again wound around the intermediate polishing roller 54B to effectively use the polishing tape 56.

The polishing by the second polishing roller 54B is so-called main polishing, and most of the protrusions on the glass substrate 18 are cut by the polishing by the second polishing roller 54B.

By the way, this second polishing roller 54B
After a lapse of a predetermined time from the start of polishing by, the most upstream polishing roller 54A reaches the corner of the glass substrate 18 on the rear end side in the transport direction. Here, the polishing roller 54A on the most upstream side is raised, and contact with the corner is avoided (see FIG. 5D).

After that, when the corner of the front end of the glass substrate 18 in the transport direction passes directly under the polishing roller 54C on the most downstream side, the polishing roller 54C on the most downstream side descends and a predetermined pressure is applied to the glass substrate 18. Contact (see FIG. 5 (E)).

The polishing on the most downstream side is finish polishing,
A new polishing tape 56 is applied and a final finishing process can be performed.

During this final finishing, the intermediate polishing roller 54
B is raised when it reaches the corner of the rear end of the glass substrate 18 in the transport direction (see FIG. 5 (F)), and then the polishing roller 54C on the most downstream side is raised when it reaches this corner (FIG. 5F). 5 (G)).

According to the present embodiment, the polishing process is divided into three steps, and the deposits on the glass substrate 18 are polished in the order of coarse meshes. Can be polished to.

Further, since polishing is performed while avoiding the burrs 18A formed at the corners, peeling due to contact with the burrs 18A, damage to the polishing tapes 56, 57, etc. can be prevented, and polishing can be performed accurately. You can The burr 18 at the corner
It is desirable to cut A in a separate process.

As the polishing tape 56 wound around the polishing roller 54B located in the middle, the polishing tape 56 wound around the polishing roller 54C located at the most downstream side and subjected to final finishing is used. 56 can be effectively used.

In this embodiment, only the polishing tape 57 wound around the polishing roller 54A on the most upstream side is different, but different polishing tapes may be used. At this time, it is preferable that the roughness is gradually reduced, but it is also possible to change the order of the roughness depending on the relationship with the contact pressure of the glass substrate 18. For example, by using a coarse-grained polishing tape and positioning the glass substrate 18 with a slight gap left between the glass substrate 18 and the surface, it is possible to polish the protrusions larger than the gap without roughening the surface.

In the present embodiment, the driving force of the motor 116 causes the polishing rollers 54A, 54A,
54B and 54C are moved up and down (see FIG. 4), slide members 122 each having an inclined surface 122A are arranged as shown in FIG.
The rotary shafts of the polishing rollers 54A, 54B, 54C are placed on the surface 22, and the height of the polishing rollers 54A, 54B, 54C is adjusted by moving the slide member 122 so that the rotary shafts move on the inclined surface 122A. The position may be adjusted.

In this embodiment, the polishing of the glass substrate 18 alone has been described, but the polishing can be performed even in the state of the liquid crystal display device 20 which has been assembled.

[0064]

As described above, the glass substrate polishing apparatus according to the present invention ensures the flatness of the glass plate to improve the adhesiveness (adhesiveness) to the adhered (adhered) member and the glass. By removing the protrusions attached to the surface,
It has an excellent effect that the quality can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a glass substrate polishing apparatus according to this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an arrangement of rollers of the glass substrate polishing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an internal structure of a liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a mechanism for vertically moving a polishing roller.

FIG. 5 is a process diagram illustrating movement of a polishing roller during a polishing process.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a modified example of a mechanism for vertically moving a polishing roller.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Glass Substrate Polishing Device 12 Surface Plate (Base) 16 Moving Table 18 Glass Substrate 20 Liquid Crystal Display Device 54A, 54B, 54C Polishing Roller 56, 57 Polishing Tape 102 Moving Block 108 Fixed Block 110, 112 Guide Shaft 116 Motor

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A glass substrate polishing apparatus for polishing the surface of a glass substrate with a polishing member, comprising: a moving table which moves on a base and on which the glass substrate is positioned and mounted; and a moving table above the moving table. , The axis is in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving table, and a plurality of them are arranged along the moving direction of the moving table, and at least two kinds of polishing members having different roughness are attached to the respective circumferential surfaces. A polishing roller, an elevating means for elevating and lowering the plurality of polishing rollers with respect to a moving table, and a corresponding polishing roller being lowered when the glass substrate on the moving table passes through a corner on the front end side in the transport direction. Let
The surface of the glass substrate and the polishing member are moved close to each other or brought into contact with each other with a predetermined pressure to move them relative to each other, and the corresponding polishing roller is raised immediately before the corner on the rear end side in the transport direction of the glass substrate passes. An apparatus for polishing a glass substrate, comprising: an elevating and lowering control unit. 2. The polishing member is applied to the surface of a thin long tape, and the long body is wound from a supply-side reel to a winding-side reel, and is wound around the polishing roller at an intermediate portion thereof. The glass substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the polishing apparatus is a glass substrate polishing apparatus. 3. When a plurality of polishing rollers are made to correspond to a glass substrate under the same conditions, the roughness of the polishing member is equal on the upstream side in the glass substrate transport direction to the downstream side in the glass substrate transport direction of the polishing rollers. Alternatively, the glass substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the glass substrate is roughly set. 4. Three polishing rollers are provided,
The polishing roller on the most upstream side in the glass substrate transport direction is provided with an independent polishing member having the highest roughness, and the polishing member once polished by the polishing roller on the most downstream side in the glass substrate transport direction is used by the polishing roller on the intermediate side. The glass substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, which is reused for polishing. 5. A polishing member of the same kind as the number of said polishing rollers and having different roughness is applied, and the roughness is set to increase toward the upstream side in the glass substrate transport direction. The glass substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.